Coin collectors, coin dealers, and mints commonly use some type of plastic holder to mount, protect, and display their coins, medals, and other collectibles. These holders are often separable at a seam that divides two housings, and there is therefore some risk that the numismatic item may be removed or tampered with, or that the coin may be dislodged from its holder by routine handling or storage. In other cases, the holder is made to be tamper-proof by the sealing together of the housings by ultrasonic or adhesive sealing processes. While these processes may be available to the mints and the larger dealers, they are not ordinarily available to those who maintain smaller inventories and coin collections. The result is that many numismatic items may not be adequately protected in that they may be dislodged from their holders, or tampered with, as by a child.
In addition, desired labeling of the numismatic items is not readily accomplished. The holders are plastic and cannot easily be written upon. Desired inscriptions are therefore easily wiped away, even if such wiping is inadvertent. Labeling may be accomplished by the adhesion of a tape and marking thereupon, but the labeling is lost if the marking gets rubbed off of the tape or if the tape gets rubbed off of the holder.
Ideally, the holders confine the numismatic items in a chamber, the chamber being dimensioned to a tolerance that is just large enough to hold the numismatic item. Typically, the holders are therefore molded to have chamber sizes which are adaptable to standard coin sizes, e.g. U.S. dollar, quarter, dime, etc. However, if one has a coin which is foreign currency or is of a size no longer minted and does not match the standard coin sizes, or if one does not have a holder with a large enough chamber, the numismatic item will slide within the confines of the chamber. Such sliding is aesthetically unpleasing and may result in scratching of the chamber, thereby clouding the display of the numismatic item.